Change of heart: Why is Macedonia trying to rebrand?

Macedonia’s future remains uncertain after a referendum to rename the country failed.

Voters overwhelmingly voted in favor of changing the name to North Macedonia. In fact, more than 90 percent of voters supported the change. But only 37 percent of the electorate voted, a number well below the 50 percent needed to make the outcome valid.

The issue now moves to parliament where the prime minister has vowed to push ahead. If the name change goes through, Greece has agreed to end its veto of Macedonia’s membership to the EU and NATO.

Following World War Two, Macedonia was one of six republics that made up the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In 1991, Macedonia gained its independence. Since then, Greece’s position has been that Macedonia’s choice of name challenges Greece’s sovereignty over its northern territory of the same name.

On this episode of The Stream, we are joined by people on both sides of the debate and ask them, what’s in a name?